LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday denied post-arrest bail to PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and two leaders of the party in the case of burning police vehicles near Jinnah House during the May 9 riots.

ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill announced the verdict reserved a few days ago after hearing the arguments from both sides.

The judge dismissed the bail petitions of Mr Qureshi, former governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema and former provincial minister Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed.

The defense lawyers argued that the allegations of burning vehicles were false. They claimed that the petitioners were not even present at the place of the alleged occurrence. They asked the court to allow the bail petitions of the PTI leaders.

Opposing the bail pleas, a deputy district public prosecutor contended that the trial was proceeding swiftly and a verdict was expected soon so the bail should be denied at this stage.

Sarwar Road police had registered a case against the PTI leaders on charges of setting police vehicles on fire near Jinnah House (Corps Commander House). These PTI leaders are also involved in other cases of May 9 riots, including Jinnah House attack, Askari Tower attack and burning of the Shadman Police Station.

Separately, the judge extended the interim pre-arrest bail of PTI Lahore Secretary Awais Younas and others till Sept 12 in the Jinnah House attack case.

The accused, including Younas, appeared before the court on expiry of their bail period.

The defense counsel sought more time to present arguments on the bail applications, which the court accepted.

Other PTI workers, who sought pre-arrest bail, included Azeem Asad, Syeda Fatima, Kamran, Sheikh, Hasnain Ali, Hassan Adnan and Taqi Khan.

The judge disposed of the pre-arrest bail petition of Haider Ali for being withdrawn.

A police official informed the court that the arrest of Ali was no longer required in the case.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2025